The soldiers of the Huai State were waiting for work, and they were well fed and well-equipped with armor. The soldiers of the Zhou Army had just woken up from their dreams and were unable to resist the Huai State army that suddenly rushed forward.
Chen Yue took the lead and led the army to charge. Wherever he passed, the Zhou army was littered with corpses. The Zhou army camp was quickly attacked to pieces. The Huai army soldiers divided the Zhou army into small pieces and then wiped them out.
When the sun finally rose, the camp was full of corpses of Zhou people, and a large number of Zhou people were captured on the other side.
After a great battle, all the Zhou troops outside Siyang City were captured.
But now, the strategic intentions of Wang Zhao, Wei Yi, Wang Tao and others have been fully realized. Bangzhou's 100,000-strong army has been surrounded by Huaiguo Xuguo in the land of Huaisi. Bangzhou's army has no way back and only has food and grass. With half a month left, it was already a matter of life and death.
...
Under the city of Huai'an, banners were flying, and the camp stretched for ten miles.
Countless soldiers were like ants, waving weapons and carrying ladders to attack the city. This method of siege is the roughest and most cruel. After Ji Bi exhausted all kinds of siege methods, they were all defeated one by one. In the end, he could only use ants to attack the city.
Tens of thousands of troops took turns to attack, but the city of Huai'an was high and the pond was deep. Zijue had specially stored a large amount of grain and grass, various defensive equipment, rolling logs and stones. There was no shortage of water in the city. The people and soldiers in the city were united and wanted to break through this city. A fortified city, even with ten times the force, will only stand a chance if the city runs out of food.
After three consecutive days of attacking, Bangzhou's army suffered heavy casualties, but the result was only to reach the top of the city and then be pushed back quickly.
Ji Bi stood on the chariot and looked very ugly when he saw the army that had been defeated again defeated and returned.
In the big tent, no one dared to say anything for fear of offending the emperor. But at this moment, the herald came in hurriedly, dragging a bamboo tube with both hands, and knelt down and said: "Your Majesty, there is an emergency with the Marquis. Information sent!"
The eunuch next to him stepped forward to take the bamboo tube, and then respectfully sent it up.
Ji Bi tore off the wax seal and opened the bamboo slips to check. As soon as he took a look, he stood blankly on the spot and the bamboo slips in his hand fell to the ground with a snap.
The face of Yu Qing next to him changed, and he quickly stepped forward to help Ji Bi sit down, then picked up the bamboo slips. He only glanced at it. Yu Qing's face changed slightly, and then he forcibly calmed down his expression, and then said to the ministers around him: " The king is a little tired, please retreat first!"
"Yes!" These ministers did not dare to ask any more questions, and they all bowed their hands and stepped back.
Immediately afterwards, Yu Qing rushed to the messenger and said: "Keep all the messengers under guard. No one is allowed to approach without the king's order."
Soon everyone retreated, leaving only Yu Qing and Ji Bi in the big tent.
"Your Majesty, the army's retreat has been cut off. We can no longer fight under the city of Huai'an. We must open up a retreat as soon as possible while the army still has food and grass, and retreat! Otherwise, it will be a disaster for us to die. The king is bound to the state of Zhou and Sheji. There can't be any mistakes!" Yu Qing couldn't care about anything else at this time and just wanted to take Ji Bi back as soon as possible.
"Yes, yes, we can't wait any longer, go back, go back, the army has to return to the division and cross the Huaihe River again!" Ji Bi also recovered at this time and said quickly.
"Order the army to return immediately!" Ji Bi wanted to give the order immediately.
"Your Majesty, no!" Yu Qing said: "We cannot move lightly when the army returns. The army's retreat will be cut off. Once word spreads, morale will plummet, and the army may collapse. And once it is known to the Huai people, the Huai army will pursue them. The emperor's six armies were all destroyed!"
"This..." Ji Bi was also shocked by the consequences and did not dare to give the order.
"Yu Qing, does Yu Qing have a clever plan?"
Looking at the panicked emperor, Yu Qing sighed again in his heart. This emperor was completely different from King Kang. He was overjoyed at achieving success, had great ambitions but little talent, and was high-minded but low-handed. He was talking about this kind of person. He was determined to conquer the Huai Kingdom in the east, but now his army is in danger. But he was panic-stricken, but he couldn't ignore it. The emperor deserved to die, but outside the big tent, those 100,000 Zhou people didn't deserve to die!
"Your Majesty, we should order the front army to move to the rear, and then the central army will escort the emperor to retreat. The rear army will take the first step, return to the Huai River, open the way back, and rebuild the pontoon bridge."
"Yu Qing is indeed a great talent, just do as Yu Qing said!" Ji Bi said immediately.
Ji Bi seemed to have grasped a life-saving straw and quickly asked Yu Ke to do it.
Yu Ke was not polite and immediately sent someone to call several generals to assign tasks. It is not easy for an army of 100,000 to retreat, and it cannot be noticed by the Huai people, otherwise the retreat of the army is likely to turn into a defeat.
Yu Ke ordered the front army to form a formation, while the rear army quietly broke out of camp. After the sky darkened, they took advantage of the darkness to leave. The Chinese army slowly retreated at night with a large army of food and grass. The former army continued to stay and attack the city, but instead of attacking the city with ants, they used bows and arrows to shoot at each other.
According to Yu Ke's request, the front army must attack under the city of Huaiyang for at least three days to cover the retreat of the army. At the same time, the number of tents in the military camp will not be reduced. There will be more flags during the day and more torches at night to confuse the Huai people.
The next day, Bang Zhou's army continued to besiege Huaiyang City. However, the intensity of the attack could not be compared with before. This change was immediately felt by the general guarding the city, and he immediately reported it to Wang Zhao.
After getting the frontline intelligence, Wang Zhao immediately felt that there was something fishy in it. He immediately handed the bamboo slip to the Prime Minister Wang Tao and said, "Prime Minister, take a look at this information."
Wang Tao took the bamboo slips and read them once, then bowed to Wang Zhao and said, "Your Majesty, I am so happy! Counting the time, Wei Yi should have cut off the Huai River, and Bang Zhou's retreat has been cut off."
"This is to spread suspicion in the old formation. You want to confuse us so that the army can retreat!"
"Hahaha, Bangzhou's 100,000-strong army has no way out, lacks food and grass, and has low morale. They still want to evacuate? What a wishful thinking!" Wang Zhao laughed.
At the same time, the messenger sent by Wei Yi rushed to the city from the side and was hoisted in a hanging basket by the sergeants on the city wall. A bamboo tube was quickly sent to the Huai Palace. After receiving the exact information, Wang Zhao did not hesitate and immediately ordered:
"The retreat of Bangzhou's army has been cut off by our naval forces from Huai and Xu, and their food and grass have been seized. The Emperor of Zhou has fled in panic. Pass my order to send the army out of the city, defeat the Zhou army, and capture the Emperor of Zhou alive!"
"The army attacks and captures Emperor Zhou alive!"
"The army attacks and captures Emperor Zhou alive!"
The order was passed on, and the entire Huaiyang City's 10,000-strong army responded immediately. Having been hiding in the city for two months, these soldiers could no longer hold back. Now that the order to attack was given, they cheered in unison.
Hearing the shouts outside the palace, Wang Zhao laughed and said: "The morale of the army is there, our army will win this battle!"
Soon the preparations of the Huaiguo army were completed. Immediately afterwards, the gates of Huai'an City were opened wide, and an army of 10,000 leaped out on horseback and rushed straight to the Zhou army's camp.
At this time, Bangzhou's army never thought that the Huai people would dare to rush out of the city and go straight to the camp. There was no defense at all, the camp was empty, and it was penetrated directly.
The Battle of Zhou Huai is a classic battle in ancient Chinese battles in which the weak defeated the strong. During the battle, King Zhao and Wei Yi of Huai first fortified the walls and cleared the country to show the enemy that they were weak. They used their weak troops three times to lure the enemy deep. After the Zhou army was exhausted, they used the navy to Cutting off the Zhou army's food routes and then dividing and annihilating them was an important turning point in the Western Zhou Dynasty's transition from prosperity to decline. ——"History of the Rise and Fall of the Zhou Dynasty·Western Zhou Dynasty"
